Child-abuse cases rise in Illinois

More child-abuse incidents, deaths reported in 2008 fiscal year

The state had to deal with more reports of child abuse, neglect and death in fiscal year 2008 than the previous year, according to data released Thursday.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family services handled 1,548 more abused and neglected children and 17 more deaths in fiscal year 2008, which started in July 2007 and ended in June 2008, than the previous fiscal year. The number of child deaths because of abuse or neglect has steadily climbed during the last three fiscal years from 58 in 2006 to 87 in 2008, according to the data. But those figures are lower than the system's high of 102 in 1989.

Children reported to be abused or neglected increased from 24,554 in 2006 to more than 27,000 in 2008, also down from a high of about 53,000 in 1995, the data showed. The system took legal custody of 4,880 children in fiscal year 2008. That's up from 4,387.

"We've seen an increase in both the frequency and severity of abuse and neglect over the last two years," said Kendall Marlowe, spokesman for the DCFS. "We could not agree more that the best prevention is to strengthen and support at-risk families before a crisis even occurs."

Based on the data, a national anti-crime organization, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, commissioned an opinion poll of 1,100 Illinois law enforcement officials to be released on Friday.

About 80 percent of those polled said they believe economic stress has contributed to an increase in child abuse and neglect. Almost 90 percent of poll takers felt that coaching high-risk parents would reduce violence against children.